29th September 2006 Title: Marriage Aim: To find out what a typical Roman marriage would have been l

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29th September 2006Title MarriageAim To find
out what a typical Roman marriage would have been
like.
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A Roman boy could marry from the age of 14
onwards. Girls could marry when they were 12
years old. Occasionally it was love at first
sight, as in the case of the couple mentioned in
the following inscription on a tombstone in Rome
This is the tomb of a darling, saintly soul
sacred to the spirits of the departed. Furia
Spes, a freedwoman, (set up this tomb) to
Sempronius Firmus, my dear husband. As boy and
girl we were bound by love at first sight for one
another. I lived with him fo only a very short
time and we were separated from each other by
cruel hand of fate when we should have lived
together.
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• Many Roman marriages were arranged by the parents
  of the couple. The first step was to find a
  suitable husband or wife. Pliny was asked by a
  friend of his to find a husband for the mans
  niece. In the following letter Pliny says he
  thinks he has found just the man.

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• To Junius Mauricus
• You asked me in your letter to look around for a
  husband for your niece. Well I cant think of a
  request that could be pleasanter or more of an
  honour than to choose a young man of the right
  sort to provide grandsons for ArulenusRusticus.
  Mind you its not been easy, but I think young
  Minicius Acilianus is just the man
• His father is Minicius Mucrinus, one of the top
  men in the knights class. His grandmother on
  his mothers side is Serrana Procula whose family
  come from Padua Shes strict even by the
  standards of the folk in Padua! His uncle is
  Publius Acilius, a very wise, respected and
  honest man. Acilianus himself is a very
  energetic, hardworking and yet modest chap. He
  has already served as quaestror, tribune and
  praetor, all admirably, and so has saved you the
  trouble (and expense) of having to pull strings
  on his behalf. Hes got the good looks and poise
  of a chap from a good family, a healthy
  complexion, and the charm of a freeborn man of
  noble birth and senatorial rank Perhaps I
  shouldnt say this but his father also happens to
  be pretty rich!

Pliny Letters 1.14
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• When the couple became engaged, there was
  usually a party (sponsalia) during which a
  marriage contract was signed. As part of the
  contract, the father of the girl had to provide
  dowry (the price of buying a husband) such as a
  pair of gold ear-rings andsilver drachmas
  (money). This was the dowry given by a girl
  called Thermion to her fiancé Apollonius.

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• Roman marriages were celebrated with a wedding
  ceremony until the first century AD after that
  time a couple could live together without a
  ceremony and be thought of as married.
• On the night of the wedding, the bride dedicated
  her toys to the family gods who had guarded her
  childhood. The house was decorated with flowers
  and, in the house of noble families, the busts of
  the family ancestors were brought out for the
  occasion.

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• On the wedding day itself, the bride was dressed
  in a white ankle-length tunic (tunica recta)
  which was made from a single piece of cloth woven
  from top to bottom, with a belt at the waist.
  Her hair was parted in the middle, plaited into
  six plaits and tied with ribbons. On her head
  she wore a bright orange veil.
• The ceremony began with a priest asking the gods
  if it was a lucky day for the wedding. If he
  decided that it was the ceremony continued. The
  bride and bridegroom fist signed the marriage
  register in front of several witnesses.

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• Then the matron of honour took the right hands
  of the bride and bridegroom and joined them
  together. This joining of right hands
  (dextrarum iunctio) was a solemn moment.
• As they held hands, the couple prayed that their
  marriage would be happy one. The bride also
  promised Wherever you go there go I. The
  ceremony ended with a sacrifice to the gods.

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• After the ceremony there was a wedding feast
  (cena nuptialis) or reception, which was held in
  the brides fathers house. During the reception
  the guests drank the health of the married couple
  and wished them luck.
• In the evening there was a procession to the
  bridegrooms house. The bride carried a spindle
  and distaff in her hands to show that, as a
  wife, one of her jobs was to spin and make cloth.
  Boys ran in front carrying burning torches. The
  remains of these were later given to the guests
  as good luck charms. Behind came he guests and
  the family, singing and shouting. When they
  reached the house, the bride was welcomed by her
  husband. He carried her over the threshold and
  led her to the marriage couch (lectus genialis)
  to show that she was now mistress of the house.

The brides mother getting ready for a wedding.
On the left is one of the three Graces (from a
Roman wall-painting)
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• In the earliest Roman marriages the wife had to
  obey her husband in everything

Romulus law made married women do exactly as
their husbands wished, and made husbands rule
their wives as if they were possessions that
could not be taken from them. If a wife was
virtuous and obeyed her husband in everything,
she was as much mistress of the house as he was
master But if she did anything wrong, the man
she wronged was her judge and decided what kind
of punishment she should receive.
From Fontes luris Romani Anteiustiniani 1.3
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However

• With marriage the Roman woman gained considerable
  freedom.The early Romans did keep tight control
  over their women, though they were not as a
  strict as the Greeks, who virtually imprisoned
  their wives at home. A Roman wife was generally
  understood as her husband's companion and helper.
  She was next to him at banquets and parties
  (which would have been a scandal in ancient
  Greece) and shared his authority over the
  children, slaves and the household.In many
  households it would be the wife who would oversee
  the slaves.Nobody required Roman wives to live
  secluded lives. They could freely receive
  visitors, leave the house, visit other
  households, or leave to go shopping.

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• Of course, some husbands treated their wives
  with love and respect, as we can see from the
  inscriptions on tombs in Rome

Here lies Amymone, wife of Marcus, most good and
beautiful, wool spinner, dutiful, modest,
careful, chaste, as woman who stayed at home. To
the spirits of the departed and to Cerellia
Fortunata, dearest wife with whom he lived for
forty years without the slightest cause for
complaint, Marcus Antonius Encolpus built this
(tomb).
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• Divorce in the early days of Roman history was
  quite rare because people thought it brought
  disgrace on the family. But later it became more
  common for a couple to be divorced Augustus,
  Cicero and Pliny all were married more than once.
  
• The following quotation is a notice abut the
  divorce of a couple.

Zois, daughter of Heracleides, and Antipater, son
of Zeno, agree that they have separated from each
other, severing the union, which they had formed
and that the agreement of marriage shall
henceforth be null.
Berlin Papyrus No.1,103 (13 BC)
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29th September 2006Title MarriageAim To find
out what a typical Roman marriage would have been
like.

• Activities
• Complete questions on sheet.
• Homework finish essay on women for next lesson.